Once, as a matter of common sense and greater-good decency, it would have been impossible, but Tuesday’s Twins at Yankees AL wild-card game began at 8:10 p.m., ESPN-standard time. Eight and one-half innings later, it ended at midnight.

This is the new norm, hard, indisputable evidence of MLB leadership continuing to place money far ahead of the good and long-term welfare of The Game. Still, commissioner Rob Manfred shamelessly declares that MLB’s No. 1 priority is to ensure that America’s children become and remain baseball fans.

The hero of Tuesday’s game was reliever David Robertson, who allowed no runs and struck out five in 3 ¹/₃ innings. Yet, as per MLB’s untreated statistical inanities, he was “credited” with a blown save. Thus, Robertson’s permanent 2017 wild-card performance will be listed and read as a failure. The win he also was credited with is a common, bitter consolation among relievers who blow saves.

As for the telecast, well, to allow ESPN, at any time of day, to have control of an MLB telecast also reflects the omnipotence of money.

For the past two years, ESPN’s lead MLB trio of Dan Shulman, Aaron Boone and Jessica Mendoza, with generous portions of Buster Olney and Tim Kurkjian “down on the field,” has been met with widespread disgust for the inability to allow even one groundout to occur without a full-blown, multiple-speakers analysis (steeped in “perhaps”) of what just happened and why it happened, and now to an in-game, split-screen taped feature about someone or something.

Surely, if ESPN’s geniuses can’t figure it out for themselves, they have been told. Thus, ESPN either doesn’t care or doesn’t believe it. Or is it that ESPN execs enjoy the way ESPN destroys baseball games?

Yoenis CespedesGetty Images

During Tuesday’s third inning, the Twins, down a run, had first and second with no one out. Yet, for all the non-stop talk, that the Twins, under Paul Molitor, didn’t even attempt a sacrifice bunt — especially in a league with the DH — impossibly went unspoken!

But, as we all know, “The game has changed.” To that end, Terry Collins must be relieved he has been relieved of his pathetic duty to regularly defend Yoenis Cespedes for his reliable unreliability.

Fascinating that while astute baseball fans and three previous teams well knew Cespedes as an indifferent talent, the Mets determined to pay him $110 million over four years in exchange for his sustaining indifference.

Reader Ralph Caola notes that the Orioles last year broke the MLB record for fewest triples with six, but that record this season was broken by the Blue Jays, with five. That makes sense, now that running to first base has become optional.

The Brewers finished one game behind the Rockies for the NL wild card. From Day 1 of this season, when the Brewers turned a 5-4 lead into a 7-5 loss to the Rockies, Milwaukee was one of those “by the book” teams that regularly pulled effective relievers in successful search of one who would be clobbered.

And in Game 4 of their season, the Brewers again lost to the Rockies, this time, 2-1, when two straight relievers who had allowed a total of one hit, were pulled for the first of several 2017 Milwaukee by the book “closers,” who quickly threw a home-run ball to end the game.

But there’s nothing written above, from absurd, fantasy-based managing, to just-pay-us midnight finishes to the season’s biggest games, to lifetime-record statistics that punish the successful and reward the failed, to MLB-partner telecasts designed to assault the central nervous system, to the reverse logic of posing first and running second, to spending tens of millions of dollars on proven underachievers, that’s likely to change.

Honestly, Francesa emanates dishonesty

It’s unlikely — perhaps impossible — we ever again will hear a sports radio host as dishonorable and as dishonest as Mike “Let’s Be Honest” Francesa.

Mike FrancesaGetty Images

Tuesday, a caller asked Francesa who he thought would relieve that night’s Yankees starter, Luis Severino, if he were hit hard early. Francesa, as if unaware of his career habit of being colossally wrong, replied, “Severino is going to go deep, tonight.”

OK, said the caller, but what if he’s hit for three runs in the first, would the Yankees go to starter Sonny Gray or reliever Chad Green?

“It’s a ridiculous thing to even bring up,” said Francesa, repeating that Severino is far too good for anything close to happen.

Severino was yanked after just one out, allowing four hits — two of them homers — a walk and three runs. He was replaced by Green.

The next day? An honorable person would have admitted he was totally wrong, even would have played the tape to boost the caller and have fun bashing himself. Fat chance.

As usual, Francesa, pretended he never said such a thing. In fact, he sagely told a caller that Severino’s nerves got to him, which can be expected from a young pitcher.

Later, Tuesday’s caller again was able to get through. He told Francesa he had been rudely treated for getting something dead-on correct. Again given the opportunity to make nice — to show he’s not a complete megalomaniacal creep — Francesa again jumped the guy, with the dishonest claim that “We don’t do ‘what-ifs’! That’s not what we do here!”

Before the Tigers-Yankees 2006 ALDS, Francesa ensured a Yankees cakewalk. He declared the Tigers horrible, said they didn’t even belong on the same field. The Tigers won, three games to one.

Afterwards, Francesa pretended he never had said anything to the contrary, wisely explaining, “anything can happen” in a best-of-five.

Further, given this postseason’s participants, Francesa’s lost tapes expertise includes Daniel Murphy will “never hit big league pitching,” Dustin Pedroia, who later won an MVP, is “a nothing” and Jose Altuve doesn’t strike him as special.

Of course, pretty vulgar Nolan lands ESPN gig

Katie NolanAP

Guess it didn’t matter to ESPN that “TV personality” Katie Nolan had her two shows flop on FOX Sports 1. Nolan is telegenic and gratuitously vulgar. Perhaps she even will reprise her Tourette syndrome gag.

Graphic of the Week comes courtesy of reader Richard Crotty: After the Celtics defeated the Hornets in a preseason game, CSN-New England noted, “Celts improve to 1-0.”

“Saturday Night Live’s” Leslie Jones, from her seat during the AL wild-card game Tuesday, was granted a close-up on the huge Yankee Stadium screen. Although SNL specializes in telling us what’s wrong with the world, Jones responded by giving the finger.

Steve McFadden, owner of McFadden’s on Second Avenue — a pub where newspaper folks complained to each other — died this week at 75. I never felt that he owned the place, more like he was there for the same reason you were: laughs.